Opinion + Public service broadcasting | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/commentisfree+media/public-service-broadcasting
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In Mel and Sue, the true spirit of punk lives on | Stewart Leehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/18/bake-off-mel-sue-bbc-punk-rock-stewart-lee
The heroic Bake Off presenters will forever be remembered by today’s disenfranchised young people<p>Paul Hollywood is named after a stupid place. And Mary Berry changed her surname to that of a popular cake ingredient in 1970, in a self-abasing quest for self-raising fame. We expect little moral guidance from either Hollywood or Berry, and we receive none in return.</p><p>But <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/sep/13/sue-perkins-and-mel-giedroyc-to-leave-great-british-bake-off">in refusing to follow <em>The Great British Bake Off</em></a> to Channel 4, the comedians Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins have shown that they are the beating heart of this delightful show which I have never watched. For Mel and Sue have done something no one does any more. They have taken a stand for something they believe in.</p><p>I speak now as an ex-BBC comedian, consistently frustrated by the organisation’s failure to recognise my genius</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/11/bake-off-stir-pot-immigration-amanda-platell-chocolate-mosque">Now even Bake Off is being used to stir the pot on immigration | Stewart Lee</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/18/bake-off-mel-sue-bbc-punk-rock-stewart-lee">Continue reading...</a>The Great British Bake OffMary BerryDaily MailRupert MurdochTelevisionBBCNewspapers & magazinesPublic service broadcastingCultureSun, 18 Sep 2016 09:00:13 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/18/bake-off-mel-sue-bbc-punk-rock-stewart-leePhotograph: Mark Bourdillon/BBC/Love Productions/Mark BourdillonPhotograph: Mark Bourdillon/BBC/Love Productions/Mark BourdillonStewart Lee2016-09-18T09:00:13ZThe Guardian view on charter renewal: round one to the BBC | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/12/guardian-view-on-bbc-charter-renewal
The director general has won some big arguments but there is a lot in the detail that needs to be clarified before victory can be declared<p>For months past, the BBC has felt under threat. The institution that together with the NHS most inspires pride, that sustains Britain’s national identity and educates, informs and entertains us, seemed at the mercy of a culture secretary who has never hidden his dislike for what he has called a “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/04/bbc-john-whittingdale-impartiality" title="">£4bn market intervention</a>”. Famous actors, leading writers and directors, musicians and even David Attenborough sprang to its defence. So, in their thousands, did the ordinary licence fee payer; <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/04/dont-ignore-public-opinion-on-bbc-trust-chair-warns-culture-secretary" title="">almost 200,000 of them responded</a> to last year’s green paper. In this context, the white paper that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2016/may/12/eu-referendum-vote-leave-threatens-itv-after-farage-invited-to-debate-cameron-politics-live" title="">has finally emerged</a> felt like a win for the BBC and its director general, Tony Hall, who has been closely involved in the head-to-head negotiations of the past few weeks. It looked like a defeat for John Whittingdale, whose long flirtation with breaking up the BBC appears to have been delayed, if not defeated, by the combined might of a prime minister and a chancellor who have more sympathy for the corporation and no incentive to pick any more fights. There are some very welcome wins, but there are too many important details still to be decided to start the celebrations yet.</p><p>However, the BBC itself has moved too. It is willing to accept greater accountability. Ten&nbsp;years ago, the idea of regulation by Ofcom was resisted. Now it is to be accepted, and so is an extended remit for the National Audit Office. The reformed system of governance ought to be better at warning against some public catastrophes like the lavish pay-offs for senior staff, or the aborted <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22651126" title="">£100m digital media initiative</a>, and for oversight if anything as grim as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/25/serious-failings-bbc-jimmy-savile-abuse-72-woman-children-report" title="">the Savile disaster</a> struck again.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/12/guardian-view-on-bbc-charter-renewal">Continue reading...</a>BBCMediaJohn WhittingdaleTony HallPoliticsDavid CameronGeorge OsborneTelevision industryRadio industryBBC TrustOfcomMedia businessPublic service broadcastingThu, 12 May 2016 19:01:50 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/12/guardian-view-on-bbc-charter-renewalPhotograph: Peter Nicholls/ReutersPhotograph: Peter Nicholls/ReutersEditorial2016-05-12T19:01:50ZThe Observer view on The Great British Bake Off and the BBC | Observer editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/11/observer-view-great-british-bake-off-bbc
Serious, but also popular: let the BBC do what it does best<p>It is, of course, possible to make too much of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/07/nadiya-jamir-hussain-great-british-bake-off-favourite" title="">Nadiya Hussain</a>’s lemon drizzle cake and victory tears, just as it is possible to make too much of every threat to the BBC’s future that drizzles from Mr Secretary Whittingdale’s lips. Yet when even the <em>Sun </em>calls Nadiya’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/the-great-british-bake-off" title=""><em>Bake Off</em></a><em> </em>triumph “a slice of perfection” and asserts that “no commercial channel would have invested in a show about making cakes in a tent”, gogglebox viewers – all 13.4 million of them last Wednesday night – have every reason to wonder what Culture, Media and Sport’s charter renewal squad is playing at.</p><p>Governments win elections by seeking the most votes. But governments seek to intimidate the BBC by questioning its quest for more viewers and listeners. Mass entertainment, apparently, is not part of the approved and “distinct” programme menu John Whittingdale desires. The <em>Great British Bake Off</em>, just like <em>Strictly</em>, is somehow too popular for refined Whitehall tastes. Broadcasting House would be better embracing irrelevance – and thus a smaller role and smaller licence fee – on the peripheries of niche provision. It is an obvious trap and one the BBC sees clearly when it argues that its “distinctive” channels must include great entertainment just as surely as great documentaries or dramas. There are practical reasons for that. There are now about 20 versions of <em>Bake Off </em>and 50 of<em> Strictly </em>around the world. British creative nous harvests cash, inspiration and admiration far and wide. Something a Tory businessman should understand. But there’s an important emotional impact, too. The US has five times the population of the UK. Its most-watched TV show last Wednesday was half a million behind <em>Bake Off</em>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/11/observer-view-great-british-bake-off-bbc">Continue reading...</a>BBCThe Great British Bake OffCultureTelevisionFood TVMediaPublic service broadcastingUK newsSat, 10 Oct 2015 23:05:15 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/11/observer-view-great-british-bake-off-bbcPhotograph: Nils Jorgensen/RexNadiya Hussain, the winner of the Great British Bake Off. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/RexPhotograph: Nils Jorgensen/RexNadiya Hussain, the winner of the Great British Bake Off. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/RexObserver editorial2015-10-10T23:05:15ZThe BBC is loved by the nation. It can use that power to confront the Tories | Will Huttonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/13/bbc-belongs-to-us-stop-tories-vandalising-it
Our public service broadcaster is at risk as never before by a government hellbent on emasculating it<p>It was heartening that the director general of the BBC, Tony Hall, opened the autumn with a fighting speech to save the organisation he loves. His vision of the BBC being an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34168310" title="">“open platform” </a>for creativity in the online age is an obvious evolution of public service broadcasting and one proposed means of doing it – the suggested “ideas service”, bringing the best video of our great cultural institutions together in one accessible TV portal – is an imaginative leap forward. But these are plans marred by the need to find a further 20% of financial cuts, demanded by a government whose principal objective is to reduce the BBC’s scope and influence.</p><p>Even then, the shrinkage won’t be enough for the modern Conservative party or its press allies. To deplore – even viscerally to hate – the BBC has become a badge of what it means to be a Tory today. It is the kind of “behemoth” statist organisation with “imperial ambitions” that it is their mission to eliminate, especially given its alleged marriage to “liberal values”. It allegedly crowds out doughty private sector media companies, most of whom represent the Tory interest. It is funded by a “regressive” tax.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/13/bbc-belongs-to-us-stop-tories-vandalising-it">Continue reading...</a>BBCMediaBBC licence feeTony HallTelevisionConservativesUK newsPoliticsPublic service broadcastingSat, 12 Sep 2015 23:05:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/13/bbc-belongs-to-us-stop-tories-vandalising-itPhotograph: David Graeme-Baker/BBC/PAPhotograph: David Graeme-Baker/BBC/PAWill Hutton2015-09-12T23:05:07ZThe Guardian view on women in broadcasting: still the second sex | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/07/guardian-view-women-in-broadcasting-still-second-sex
Female presenters can inspire ambition, but only if the many barriers confronting them are swept away. Television must conduct itself better<p>When Marin Alsop steps up to the podium in London’s Royal Festival Hall on Remembrance Sunday to conduct <a href="http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/remembrance-sunday-brittens-84201" title="">Britten’s War Requiem</a>, she will stand in a spot <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/06/marin-alsop-proms-classical-sexist" title="">occupied by few women before her</a>. She will be a human and visible rebuke to the traditional notion of the conductor as sketched by New York Times music critic Harold Schonberg in 1967: “He has been tempered in the crucible but he is still molten and he glows with a fierce inner light … Above all, he is a leader of men … a father … the Teacher who knows all.” Close your eyes and think of a maestro (an Italian word that has entered the English language in, by default, the masculine form) and the chances are that you think of a man.</p><p>We live in a visual world. Ms Alsop’s presence on that podium is a reminder of the importance of actually seeing women in prominent cultural roles. In the most pervasive medium, television – the one that we encounter from cradle to grave, brought directly into our homes – the imbalance between the numbers of men and women on screen remains severe, as the <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/women-in-news" title="">Lords committee on women in news broadcasting</a> has been hearing this week.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/07/guardian-view-women-in-broadcasting-still-second-sex">Continue reading...</a>TV newsGenderTelevision industryBBCWomenLife and styleMediaPublic service broadcastingEqualityUK newsFri, 07 Nov 2014 19:08:58 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/07/guardian-view-women-in-broadcasting-still-second-sexPhotograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar Picture LibraryInspirational: Kate Adie, BBC journalist, in 1992. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar Picture LibraryPhotograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar Picture LibraryInspirational: Kate Adie, BBC journalist, in 1992. Photograph: Sportsphoto/Allstar Picture LibraryEditorial2014-11-07T19:08:58ZThe sports 'honey shot' plays into the idea that the centre stage is for men | Alex Andreouhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/09/sports-honey-shot-objectifying-images
Objectifying images of spectators imply that only men like sport, and that all men like pictures of lightly dressed women<br /><br /><p>It is known as "the honey shot" and we all know it well. Some delay is occurring in the (usually) sporting activity which is the main television event. We switch to a camera showing a section of the audience – a section carefully selected. There she is, front centre, a pretty young girl. Occasionally she is wearing very little. Occasionally there's more than one – the much sought after "double honey shot". Sometimes she will jump up and wave at the camera with excitement. Sometimes a lascivious voiceover will remark on her charms. And now back to the action.</p><p>It was pioneered by <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/07/07/andy_sidaris_the_man_who_invented_sports_television_s_honey_shot.html" title="">Andy Sidaris</a> in the 1980s, an American football director for ABC. Originally it confined itself to leering shots of cheerleaders. Soon it spread to other sports, to showing "pretty young things" among spectators, players' girlfriends, now even to music events. Anyone who watched coverage of the Glastonbury festival will have seen it. The shot's aesthetic is almost always unabashedly pornographic. Sidaris went on to direct third-rate sexploitation movies involving former centrefolds. Some of his efforts can be seen in the Girls, Guns and G-strings DVD set.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/09/sports-honey-shot-objectifying-images">Continue reading...</a>SportWomenPublic service broadcastingMediaTelevision industryGenderFeminismWed, 09 Jul 2014 07:45:28 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/09/sports-honey-shot-objectifying-imagesPhotograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesKim Sears watches her boyfriend, Andy Murray, play tennis at Wimbledon. Photograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesKim Sears watches her boyfriend, Andy Murray, play tennis at Wimbledon. Photograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesAlex Andreou2014-07-09T07:45:28ZTony Hall, take a long knife to the parasites the BBC calls managers | Jonathan Meadeshttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/02/tony-hall-bbc-parasites-long-knife
Only a brutal demolition from the new director general can restore the glory of the British Betrayal Corporation<p>Nicholas Hytner <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/mar/07/nicholas-hytner-criticises-bbc" title="">recently complained that the BBC was "neglecting the arts"</a>. Melvyn Bragg has said that <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/melvyn-bragg-calls-on-new-bbc-boss-to-reverse-shrinking-arts-coverage-8548842.html" title="">"I'm disappointed at the way the arts seems to be shrinking on the BBC."</a></p><p>But both Hytner and Bragg are one letter out. The "arts" conjures up images of committees of bores, worthily reverent exegesis, the horrors of dance, the misfit between opera and even a 42-inch screen, and ancient avant-gardist cliches – "ahead of its time", "ground-breaking", "controversial". Bragg and Hytner, the National Theatre director, would have been on the mark had they omitted the "s".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/02/tony-hall-bbc-parasites-long-knife">Continue reading...</a>Tony HallBBCPublic service broadcastingTelevision & radioTelevisionTelevision industryCultureMediaUK newsTue, 02 Apr 2013 05:59:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/02/tony-hall-bbc-parasites-long-knifePhotograph: PAJohn Birt, author of the BBC's 'bloated structure' and 'the improbable beneficiary of the Mendips camorra of William Rees-Mogg and Marmaduke Hussey'. Photograph: PAPhotograph: PAJohn Birt, author of the BBC's 'bloated structure' and 'the improbable beneficiary of the Mendips camorra of William Rees-Mogg and Marmaduke Hussey'. Photograph: PAJonathan Meades2013-04-02T05:59:00ZNewsnight and Jimmy Savile: chain of command | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/23/jimmy-savile-newsnight-editorial
The public service ideal relies on BBC journalists being free to follow their noses without fearor favour<p>Hands clean or hands-off? That is the immediate judgment to reach on George Entwistle over the Jimmy Savile affair. The director general went to parliament yesterday to prove that he had kept a virtuous distance from decisions about what the BBC would broadcast about its late, disgraced star. But the prevailing impression was of an editor-in-chief who kept himself rather too far from the fray.</p><p>After three fumbling weeks, it was a mediocre performance. Perhaps it was unrealistic to have hoped that he could answer the hankering for somebody to grip this whole horrid business. We are, after all, talking about four decades of abuse, both within and beyond a corporation of 8,000 journalists. The principal culprit was protected by countless blind eyes, and by an on-screen culture which tittered indulgently at lechery, as if it were only natural for red-blooded males. Given the allegations about what he was up to backstage, it is chilling to watch old Top of the Pops clips in which Savile hugs young girls too close. Even at the time, there would have been outrage if the full facts had come to light. A mix of indifference and incuriosity ensured they never did.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/23/jimmy-savile-newsnight-editorial">Continue reading...</a>Jimmy SavileGeorge EntwistlePublic service broadcastingBBCMediaNewsnightTue, 23 Oct 2012 19:38:42 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/23/jimmy-savile-newsnight-editorialEditorial2012-10-23T19:38:42ZTV's repeat prescription | Mark Lawsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/25/tv-repeats-newspaper-headlines
Viewers are supposed to hate recycled shows. But the evidence points to an appetite for the familiar<p>Those <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/nov/29/christmas-tv-repeats-daily-mail" title="Guardian: Christmas TV repeats are a Daily Mail obsession">newspapers that pursue a sceptical view of British broadcasting</a>, and especially of the BBC, seem to keep a particular headline typeset and ready to print again at the click of a short-cut key. The phrase is, fittingly, "repeat offender". It's seen at least every Christmas and every summer, and frequently in between, when broadcasting organisations announce schedules containing large numbers of programmes that have been shown before. The repetition of material has become symbolic of failure to provide proper value for the licence fee or advertising revenue. When <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8546940.stm" title="Jeremy Paxman gave a Newsnight bollocking to BBC director general Mark Thompson">Jeremy Paxman gave a Newsnight bollocking to BBC director-general Mark Thompson</a>, one of his lines of attack was the number of the corporation's offerings that had the letter R in brackets after their entry in listings magazines.</p><p>Such is the sensitivity about re-screening that broadcasters have developed camouflage tactics. Get Sir Archibald Autocue to record a one-minute introduction to seven of his classic documentaries from the past, and you have a project that counts, for monitoring purposes, as a new series rather than a repeat. And the phrase "first time on terrestrial TV" disguises the fact that a product may have been shown a hundred times on cable.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/25/tv-repeats-newspaper-headlines">Continue reading...</a>Television industryPublic service broadcastingBBCBBC licence feeMark ThompsonMediaPublic sector cutsFri, 25 Mar 2011 20:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/25/tv-repeats-newspaper-headlinesPhotograph: Bbc/PAMatt Smith, the new Doctor Who, slips in and out of the vision as repeats populate the BBC's schedules. Photograph: Bbc/PAPhotograph: Bbc/PAMatt Smith, the new Doctor Who, slips in and out of the vision as repeats populate the BBC's schedules. Photograph: Bbc/PAMark Lawson2011-03-25T20:30:00ZNPR falls into the right's trap, twice | Dan Kennedyhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/mar/09/npr-usa
Cowed by Republican threats of defunding, the NPR board has compounded Vivian Schiller's error by trying to appease enemies<p>It would be one thing if <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/09/134388981/npr-ceo-vivian-schiller-resigns">Vivian Schiller had been forced out</a> as chief executive of NPR for the right reasons.</p><p>After all, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130712737">the long-overdue firing of commentator Juan Williams</a> was thoroughly botched on her watch, giving Williams the opportunity to reinvent himself as a hero of the right. Following that fiasco, one of Schiller's underlings, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0107/NPR-s-Ellen-Weiss-resigns-after-Williams-firing">Ellen Weiss, was pushed out of her job</a>.</p><p>"I did not want to leave NPR. There's a lot of pressure on NPR right now. It would have made it too difficult for stations to face that funding threat in Congress without this change."</p><p>The current Republican party is not really the Republican party. It's been hijacked by this group that is ... not just Islamophobic but, really, xenophobic. They believe in sort of white, middle America, gun-toting – it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/mar/09/npr-usa">Continue reading...</a>NPRMediaUS newsUS televisionRadioPublic service broadcastingTea Party movementRepublicansUS CongressUS public radioWed, 09 Mar 2011 22:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/mar/09/npr-usaPhotograph: Michael Benabib/APVivian Schiller, who resigned as president of NPR after the release of a 'sting' video orchestrated by rightwing stunt-artist James O'Keefe. Photograph: Michael Benabib/APPhotograph: Michael Benabib/APVivian Schiller, who resigned as president of NPR after the release of a 'sting' video orchestrated by rightwing stunt-artist James O'Keefe. Photograph: Michael Benabib/APDan Kennedy2011-03-09T22:00:01ZThe battle for public broadcasting | Amy Goodmanhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/mar/09/public-service-broadcasting-public-service-reporting
Republicans aim to defund NPR and public broadcasting, but at a modest cost this journalism is vital to American democracy<p>The aspen grove on Kebler Pass in Colorado is one of the largest organisms in the world. Thousands of aspen share the same, interconnected root system. Last weekend, I snowmobiled over the pass, 10,000ft above sea level, between the towns of Paonia and Crested Butte. I was racing through Colorado to help community radio stations raise funds, squeezing in nine benefits in two days. The programme director of <a href="http://www.kvnf.org/">public radio station KVNF</a> in Paonia dropped us at the trailhead, where the programme director of <a href="http://www.kbut.org/">KBUT public radio</a> in Crested Butte and a crew of station DJs picked us up on snowmobiles to whisk us 30 miles over the pass. </p><p>Now that the Republicans have taken over the House of Representatives, one of their first acts was to <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134239725/GOP-Outlines-Plans-To-Cut-Public-Media-Funding">"zero out" current funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)</a>. Furthermore, <a href="http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/02/19/aehq-house-cuts-govt-funding-public-broadcasting">Representative Doug Lamborn from Colorado Springs has offered a bill</a> to permanently strip CPB funding. Lamborn told NPR:</p><p>"We live in a day of 150 cable channels – 99% of Americans own a TV, we get internet on our cell phones, we are in a day and age when we no longer need to subsidise broadcasting."</p><p>"We are in an information war, and we are losing that war … Viewership of al-Jazeera is going up in the United States because it's real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news."</p><p>"The smart thing to do is to take most of that $750m, add it onto what's being spent currently in the United States, and create a really dynamic, strong, competitive public and community broadcasting system that treats the US government the same way it treats other governments, the same standard of journalism, then broadcast that to the world, make that fully accessible to the world. And I think that would show the United States at its very best."</p><p>"The Communications Act of 1934 set aside a small spectrum of the airwaves to serve the public interest and to be free of commercial influence … Once again, it's cutting services to those who need it most, while protecting those groups who can afford a posse of lobbyists to defend their interests. I refuse to imagine my region without my community radio station."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/mar/09/public-service-broadcasting-public-service-reporting">Continue reading...</a>Public service broadcastingPublic service reportingMediaUS televisionRadioUS CongressRepublicansUS newsPress freedomAl-JazeeraHillary ClintonWed, 09 Mar 2011 01:04:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/mar/09/public-service-broadcasting-public-service-reportingPhotograph: Michael Reynolds/EPASecretary of State Hillary Clinton, before the Senate foreign relations committee, contrasted al-Jazeera favourably with US media for providing 'real news'. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPAPhotograph: Michael Reynolds/EPASecretary of State Hillary Clinton, before the Senate foreign relations committee, contrasted al-Jazeera favourably with US media for providing 'real news'. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPAAmy Goodman2011-03-09T01:04:00ZPublic broadcasting's necessary enemies | Theo Braininhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/19/npr-us-television
Attacks from the right on the BBC and NPR actually ensure that public service broadcasters provide value-for-money excellence<p>"Let's not be under any misapprehension, the notion that we can look for a 16% reduction in budget and sail on as you are is inconceivable."</p><p>So said Michael Lyons, BBC Trust Chairman, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/dec/14/bbc-sir-michael-lyons">as he hinted on Tuesday</a> that major BBC services are at risk under the corporation's strategic review. Words of defeat, you might conclude.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/19/npr-us-television">Continue reading...</a>NPRUS televisionUS television industryBBCBBC licence feeBBC TrustSir Michael LyonsMediaPublic sector cutsPublic service broadcastingUS newsUK newsTelevision industryFox NewsRupert MurdochNews CorporationJames MurdochUS public radioSun, 19 Dec 2010 19:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/19/npr-us-televisionPhotograph: David LeveneSir Michael Lyons, outgoing chairman of the BBC Trust, has warned that a tough licence-fee settlement may mean cuts in some public broadcasting services. Photograph: David Levene for the GuardianPhotograph: David LeveneSir Michael Lyons, outgoing chairman of the BBC Trust, has warned that a tough licence-fee settlement may mean cuts in some public broadcasting services. Photograph: David Levene for the GuardianTheo Brainin2010-12-19T19:00:01ZWhat is the future of the fourth estate? | Alan Rusbridgerhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/11/future-fourth-estate-longform
Kicking off Cif's new series of long-form articles, your thoughts, please, on the three-way split in today's news media<p>Natalie Hanman, the editor of Comment is free, is launching a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global/series/work-in-progress" title="Cif: Work in progress">new series of long-form articles</a> in which a writer is given space to explore a subject in depth over a longer period, drawing on the expertise of readers and using multimedia to explore particular themes. She asked me to kick it off.</p><p>Here goes …</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/11/future-fourth-estate-longform">Continue reading...</a>MediaNewspapers & magazinesPublic service broadcastingTelevision industrySocial mediaDigital mediaTechnologyUK newsMon, 11 Oct 2010 14:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/11/future-fourth-estate-longformAlan Rusbridger2010-10-11T14:00:00ZResponse: The BBC was right to report claims of aid abuse in Ethiopiahttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/18/bbc-aid-ethiopia-bob-geldof
Even competent agencies have been ripped off – it's the nature of humanitarian crisis<p>Bob Geldof rages against the "thoroughly discredited BBC World Service programme that claimed that nigh on the entire humanitarian relief effort by all aid agencies during the Ethiopian famine was diverted to arms" (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/09/bob-geldof-world-service-ethiopia" title="My rage at this calumny">My rage at this calumny</a>, 10 March).</p><p>But the BBC report was not specifically about Band Aid. Nor does it discredit the World Service to report on international aid deliveries during the Ethiopian crisis of the 1980s. The real issue is about the way humanitarian assistance to victims of war and famine was – and still is – manipulated by all sides, whether rebel or government.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/18/bbc-aid-ethiopia-bob-geldof">Continue reading...</a>Global developmentEthiopiaBBC World ServiceBBCPublic service broadcastingSocietyPublic service reportingWar reportingMediaPoliticsUK newsWorld newsAid and developmentKatineAidAfricaThu, 18 Mar 2010 00:05:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/18/bbc-aid-ethiopia-bob-geldofEdward Girardet2010-03-18T00:05:02ZBob Geldof | My rage at this World Service calumnyhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/09/bob-geldof-world-service-ethiopia
Rageh Omaar's defence of the discredited BBC report on Band Aid beggars belief. He ignores the total collapse of standards at the World Service<p>Rageh Omaar's piece "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/08/rageh-omaar-live-aid-geldof" title="Guardian: Even Band Aid is not above criticism">Even Band Aid is not above criticism</a>" is ridiculous. It is of course not about me, or Band Aid, but rather a defence of journalistic exceptionalism, and the now thoroughly discredited BBC World Service programme that "sexed up" a claim that nigh-on the entire humanitarian relief effort by all aid agencies was diverted to arms in Tigray province in 1985.</p><p>He allies himself with the programme's dubious technique of using a "star" name to attract attention to an otherwise unexceptional or dubious point of view in the hope that it will gather attention.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/09/bob-geldof-world-service-ethiopia">Continue reading...</a>BBC World ServiceBBCEthiopiaMediaPublic service broadcastingBob GeldofAfricaRageh OmaarTue, 09 Mar 2010 23:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/09/bob-geldof-world-service-ethiopiaBob Geldof2010-03-09T23:00:01ZBBC has a duty to serve minorities | Senior Producerhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/05/worrying-times-bbc-minority-audiences
By axing the Asian Network, and not ring-fencing the savings for minority programmes, the BBC is failing in its public service remit<p>Six months ago, I joined the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=83938720965" title="Facebook: the TV Collective">TV Collective</a> – a group of media professionals dedicated to addressing concerns about diversity in the television industry. This week I apprehensively listened with other members as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/audio/2010/mar/05/media-talk-podcast-bbc-cuts-6-music" title="Guardian: Media Talk: BBC plans to axe 6 Music">Mark Thompson spelled out the BBC's strategy review</a>, keen to find out whether the rumour was true that the Asian Network faced the axe.</p><p>Thompson started delivering his "Putting Quality First" review at 9.30am. By the time he'd finished, most of the leaks (mainly published in the Guardian) proved to be true: the Asian Network would be closed down along with 6 Music, and BBC Online content would be cut by 50%. Thompson assured the Asian audience:</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/05/worrying-times-bbc-minority-audiences">Continue reading...</a>BBCMediaMark ThompsonAsian NetworkDigital radio6 MusicUK newsRace issuesPublic service broadcastingTelevision industryFri, 05 Mar 2010 12:03:55 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/05/worrying-times-bbc-minority-audiencesSenior Producer2010-03-05T12:03:55ZWolves in White City | Jean Seatonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/26/bbc-cuts-digital-television-funding
The BBC has to fend off a pack of commercial rivals who scent blood. But to the public it's still a beacon, admired and magnificent<p>Do <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/feb/26/bbc-strategic-review" title="the BBC " cuts""="">the BBC "cuts"</a> ­mean that an over-mighty subject has finally, grudgingly, agreed to reduce its size? Or have the wolf pack of press and commercial interests intent on ­demolishing any competition that stands in their way had their first taste of blood before moving in for a more gruesome kill when a new government comes? Or, on the contrary, is it all a cunning feint by the bloated bureaucrats of the corporation trying to dodge a real and needed slashing? And where is the public interest in all of this?</p><p>The assumption that the Strictly Come Dancing-rejoicing, Proms-proud, web-page-addicted public wants the BBC to be beaten down is bonkers. The BBC's networks know and are owned by their audiences in a uniquely creative way. But Auntie has to concentrate on being the BBC. The question of what size the BBC ought to be is wrong. The only sensible thing to ask is "what is the BBC for?", and then sort out the range of things that it needs to do with the money we afford it. The BBC, after all, is there to serve its licence-fee payers, not its own corporate agenda – but also to serve the nation, which gives it obligations to wider audiences. The BBC is there to be purposely intelligent: but promiscuously and wantonly so.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/26/bbc-cuts-digital-television-funding">Continue reading...</a>BBCBBC TrustBBC licence feeTelevision industryUK newsMediaPublic service broadcastingDigital mediaFri, 26 Feb 2010 20:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/26/bbc-cuts-digital-television-fundingJean Seaton2010-02-26T20:00:01ZA quarter century in Albert Square offers a telling omnibus of UK politicshttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/15/eastenders-at-25-bbc-conservatives-policy
EastEnders' 25 years map sweeping changes in the state of TV, and of Britain. In its 26th year, it could be used to attack the BBC<p>Many communications between BBC executives are intended to have only a short-term effect: arse-covering, career-enhancing. But an idea typed up in Television Centre on 1 February 1984 turned out to have astonishing long-term consequences: <em>The </em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders" title="Wikipedia: EastEnders"><em>bi-weekly </em></a><em>is an ongoing ­serial about the life of a community in the East End of London … our group of characters is fiercely territorial – ­incestuous, ­almost – and reflects how life is TODAY in a ­disadvantaged part of the inner city</em> …</p><p>That bi-weekly is now a quad-weekly, and the numerous social dilemmas it has reflected have indeed reached incest by the time of the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/twentyfive/" title="EastEnders site">25th anniversary</a>, to be celebrated on Friday. And, because very few TV shows reach their silver jubilee, EastEnders usefully invites comparisons between the state of TV and of Britain, then and now.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/15/eastenders-at-25-bbc-conservatives-policy">Continue reading...</a>MediaPoliticsEastEndersTelevisionTelevision industryBBCPublic service broadcastingITV plcConservativesMon, 15 Feb 2010 21:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/15/eastenders-at-25-bbc-conservatives-policyMark Lawson2010-02-15T21:00:01ZTop-slicing is not the only solution | Jeremy Dearhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/17/television-bbc-public-service-broadcasting
Why can't commercial media companies contribute to the shortfall in funding for public service broadcasting?<p>Public service broadcasting is in trouble. Ofcom estimates we face a funding gap of between £145m and £235m a year, just to maintain the current levels of service on channels like ITV, Channel 4 and Five. Meanwhile, the free marketeers follow in James Murdoch's wake in the hope that this particular market failure will offer a new opportunity to bash the BBC.</p><p>While the high-flyers of broadcast policy lock horns in Cambridge this week, journalists and colleagues working in the creative industries regard with trepidation what's happening to their industry. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/sep/15/ben-bradshaw-licence-fee-bbc" title="Media Guardian: Culture secretary Ben Bradshaw to challenge BBC on licence fee">As anticipated</a>, culture secretary <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/sep/17/ben-bradshaw-michael-lyons-bbc" title="Media Guardian: Ben Bradshaw and Sir Michael Lyons clash over BBC licence fee">Ben Bradshaw has lent his authority</a> to the case for trimming or top-slicing the licence fee in <a href="http://image.theguardian.com/sys-files/Media/documents/2009/09/16/rtsbradshaw.pdf" title="Guardian: PDF of Bradshaw's speech to the Royal Television Society conference">his speech to the Royal Television Society conference</a> – but went further than expected with his apparent endorsement of Murdoch's anti-BBC agenda.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/17/television-bbc-public-service-broadcasting">Continue reading...</a>James MurdochBBCTelevision industryMediaUK newsPublic service broadcastingThu, 17 Sep 2009 15:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/17/television-bbc-public-service-broadcastingJeremy Dear2009-09-17T15:00:00ZDigital Britain is about pipes, not poetry | Emily Bellhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jun/16/digital-britain-broadband-bbc
Lord Carter's Digital Britain report lacks electrifying vision, but could mark the point at which the BBC began to lose control of its licence fee<p>It is hard to imagine how there could be a more marked contrast between two events than the backlash against the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/16/iran-elections-rally-tehran" title="theguardian.com: Tens of thousands flock to new protests in Tehran">Iranian election results</a> and the release of the <a href="http://image.theguardian.com/sys-files/Media/documents/2009/06/16/BERR-DigitalBritain.pdf" title="Digital Britain: read the full report">Digital Britain report</a>. Yet both share the common root of defining how we will communicate in future; the former through urgent practice, the latter through lukewarm legislation.</p><p>The leading "hash tag" or "#" for the digitally determined, which is a way of creating subject areas on Twitter, remained "iranelection" yesterday afternoon as the world tweeted to, from and about the rebellion against the results. The Iranian "Facebook generation" used it to sort out ways to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jun/16/iran-election-protests-internet-mousavi" title="Comment is free: Iranian youth sidestep the regime">circumnavigate government controls</a> and to self-organise. Meanwhile #digitalbritain stayed way down the list, as users met the well-flagged report with descriptions such as "as expected" and "no surprises" or "colossal disappointment" in the case of Tory minister Jeremy Hunt.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jun/16/digital-britain-broadband-bbc">Continue reading...</a>Digital BritainBroadbandInternetFilesharingTechnologyDigital mediaPublic service broadcastingTelevision industryBBCUK newsPoliticsTue, 16 Jun 2009 18:33:45 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jun/16/digital-britain-broadband-bbcEmily Bell2009-06-16T18:33:45Z